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In a 2009 study, the marketing research company Millward Brown found the brain processes physical and digital materials differently. However, existing research does offer some clues. “There’s not much on the reading of actual texts,” Mangen says. This may be because of the shallowing hypothesis - constant exposure to fast-paced, digital media trains the brain to process information more rapidly and less thoroughly. Format didn’t affect their grasp of the main idea, but students missed details when reading on screens.ĭigital reading impairs comprehension, particularly for longer, more complex texts, says Mangen. In 2016, Singer Trakhman examined undergraduates’ reading comprehension after they read digital and print versions of articles. TL DR: Digital Reading Equals Shallower Processing Everything’s so quick and accessible that we may not be truly digesting anymore.”īoth scientists agree digital is fine to scan news headings for main ideas, but longer, complicated texts are best read in print, especially to retain the details. “It’s one of the best parts of our digital world - everything is at our fingertips and we can get the headlines in a second - but it may also be one of the pitfalls. “We read digital more quickly, we think we must understand it better,” explains Lauren Singer Trakhman, who studies reading comprehension at the University of Maryland, College Park. Studies found digital reading breeds overconfidence. If people associate screen time with casual web-surfing they may rush through without fully absorbing the text.ĭo you think you’re the exception? Most people do. It provides spatial and tactile cues to help readers process words on a page. Print is visually less demanding than digital text. I think it’s healthy for us as human beings to sit down with something that doesn’t move, ping, or call on our attention.” “And it’s a whole different kind of immersion than responding to stimuli. “ is kind of like meditation - focusing our attention on something still,” says Anne Mangen, a literacy professor at the University of Stavanger in Norway. Turns out print is easier to comprehend than digital text. Digital books have been with us for a decade - but how well are we absorbing it all? Many swapped hard copy textbooks and worksheets for websites and other digital resources. During the coronavirus pandemic, students worldwide shifted from the classroom to remote, online learning.